Microsoft defends the cost of Kinect

With many critics having a pop at Kinect’s price tag, and Sony re-confirming the price of its Move motion control system to be £50 for the Starter Kit, Microsoft has been defending the cost of Kinect.

Its own motion control system weighs in at £130, although it does come bundled with a full game (Sony’s kit just has nine demos). But the crux of the matter is, as a Microsoft spokesman told TechRadar, that the one Kinect unit is all you need to buy.

For that, you get a peripheral that supports two player games (and tracks up to six people). If you want to go two player on the Move, MS points out you’ll need not only the Starter Kit (£50), but another motion controller (£35), to make a total of £85, without a game included.

And furthermore, if you factor in the sub-controllers which are required for an optimum Move experience with some games, that’s an extra £50 for two of those, to make £135. Although Sony points out a normal controller can be used in place of the sub-controller at a pinch.

We can see Microsoft’s point here, but looking at the bare prices and bottom line, £130 for a peripheral just looks expensive, and Sony’s £50 looks cheap in comparison, even though that isn’t the full story.

Some experts believe Microsoft will drop the price of Kinect soon enough after the launch period, which is usually the way after the company has its money from the keen early adopters.

However, these systems will ultimately stand or fall on the quality of the games for them, and currently Kinect is targeting the casual market, with many of the more hardcore Xbox’ers out there expressing little interest in it.

Kinect could open up a new market for Microsoft’s console – or it could prove to be quite a flop, but either way, we’re still not convinced the £130 tag is going to help it make its mark.

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